Providers of the EYPDP, Education Development Trust (EDT) join conversation on the next steps for childcare and early years provision in England, at the Westminster Education Forum

On the 16th of July 2024, Westminster Education Forum hosted a conference entitled ‘Next Steps for Childcare and Early Years Provision in England’ and provided an opportunity for delegates to hear from a variety of speakers, including EDT’s Education Director Tony McAleavy.

As part of his closing keynote speech, Tony spoke about the importance of mobilising research and evidence about what works in Early Years learning through high impact professional development.

Drawing on evidence from the Early Years Professional Development Programme, Tony emphasised that simply increasing access to education for young children will not lead to better outcomes, without a well-informed and self-confident workforce.

As part of the debate, Tony outlined the key policy levers necessary for improving outcomes for children from birth to five years. These included better pay, structured career progression, parity of esteem with professionals in later education phases, smarter accountability, and crucially, access to high-impact professional learning.

“We need all these things, but I want to emphasise access to high-impact professional learning, particularly CPD.” Tony McAleavy

As the current EYPDP contract concludes in early 2025, Tony identified the need to codify the lessons learned to inform future priorities for the sector, pointing out the need to move beyond viewing early years education as mere support for working parents to recognising it as vital for high-quality education.

Find out more about the Westminster Forum projects here: Westminster Forum Projects

Find out more about the work of EDT within early years here: Early Years Professional Development programme – Education Development Trust (edt.org)